Redeeming Email Forwards

After my last post,  I have been mulling the question posed to me by a couple of homeschool mom friends, which is "Do homeschoolers ever really retire?"  So quite a few days have passed, and I still really don't have a response clear in my mind.  So here is something else while we are waiting.

I get a boatload of email every day.  Since I have been marketing online for more than a decade, I am on many marketing mailing lists. 

Many. 

I also have about a dozen email addresses where I receive hundreds of pieces of marketing mail of various kinds. Most of this mail you would probably consider spam. Most of it actually is. But there is some that you probably would consider spam that is legitimate mail for me. One person's spam is another's bread and butter.

Then there are the 477 notifications from Google Buzz, messages from Facebook informing me that people have liked or commented on my link or activity, or that someone has suggested that I become a fan of [insert name of fan page], or invited me to [insert event], messages from Twitter that someone has followed me, messages from Qwitter that someone has unfollowed me, requests for contacts from Linked In, and newsletters relating to social media.

I also receive a variety of newletters about health and wellness, and a fair number of political newsletters and emails. I also subscribe to a number of things via RSS that download into my Outlook.

I thought it might be fun to share a sampling of what I receive.

From my Digg feed (which now numbers 1184 unread):

13 Great Nerd Movie Scores by Folks Other Than John Williams

John Williams is obviously the Greatest of All Time. Everyone knows it. But there are some new composers and some old vets who also deserve their share of recognition.


View article...

From my marketing mail:

No Sponsoring Required, Residual Income, Join Free Today!!!

Susan, Our Marketing Plan Gives You A Unique and Powerful Way To Passively Earn A Generous $363 Without Referring and Without Having To Pay Any Monthly Fees!!

Six Phone Prospecting Phrases That Could Be Costing You A Fortune

From My Political Email:

Prom Ruling Affirms ACLU Agenda
Executive Order just "cover" for Pro-Life Dems
NY Man Arrested, Jailed for Praying
Hope and Change - The Constitution 

On the personal side, probably about 1/4 of the mail I receive consists of forwards of various things. Some bring tears to my eyes, some make me laugh out loud, some inspire me, and some I don't even bother to open.



I thought this one was worth sharing as we move into Holy Week.

'Excuse me, Are you Jesus?'

A few years ago a group of salesmen went to a regional sales convention in Chicago.They had assured their wives that they would be home in plenty of time for Friday night's dinner. In their rush, with tickets and briefcases, one of these salesmen inadvertently kicked over a table which held a display of apples. Apples flew everywhere. Without stopping or looking back, they all managed to reach the plane in time for their nearly-missed boarding.

ALL BUT ONE!!! He paused, took a deep breath , got in touch with his feelings, and experienced a twinge of compassion for the girl whose apple stand had been overturned.

He told his buddies to go on without him, waved good-bye, told one of them to call his wife when they arrived at their home destination and explain his taking a later flight. Then he returned to the terminal where the apples were all over the terminal floor.

He was glad he did.

The 16-year-old girl was totally blind! She was softly crying, tears running down he r cheeks in frustration, and at the same time helplessly groping for her spilled produce as the crowd swirled about her; no one stopping and no one to care for her plight.

The salesman knelt on the floor with her, gathered up the apples, put them back on the table and helped organize her display. As he did this, he noticed that many of them had become battered and bruised; these he set aside in another basket.

When he had finished, he pulled out his wallet and said to the girl, "Here, please take this $40 for the damage we did. Are you okay?" She nodded through her tears.. He continued on with, "I hope we didn't spoil your day too badly."

As the salesman started to walk away, the bewildered blind girl called out to him, "Mister...." He paused and turned to look back into those blind eyes. She continued, "Are you Jesus?"

He stopped in mid-stride, and he wondered. Then slowly he made his way to catch the later flight with that question burning and bouncing about in his soul: "Are you Jesus?" Do people mistake you for Jesus? That's our destiny, is it not? To be so much like Jesus that people cannot tell the difference as we live and interact with a world that is blind to His love, life and grace.

If we claim to know Him, we should live, walk and act as He would. Knowing Him is more than simply quoting Scripture and going to church. It's actually living the Word as life unfolds day to day.

You are the apple of His eye even though we, too, have been bruised by a fall. He stopped what He was doing and picked up you and me on a hill called Calvary and paid in full for our damaged fruit.

Please share this, {IF you feel led to do so}. Sometimes we just take things for granted, when we really need to be sharing what we know....Thanks.

I am glad he stopped what He was doing and picked me up and paid in full for my damaged fruit. I had plenty. I can only hope that people catch a glimpse of Him in me as I go about my daily life. My goal is that one day people would "mistake me for Jesus."

Do people mistake you for Jesus?